Good enough is not good enough.

Mediocrity Loves Company. That was the headline in an ad for Career Builder today in the Kansas City Star. And while it is an extraordinary message to deliver to employees who feel as if they are no longer being challenged in their work environment, it is also an indictment of many companies who have unintentionally decided to settle for marketing and advertising that blends in with the crowd.

Mediocrity. Can there be a worse curse?

Companies don't plan to settle. In fact, many of them work diligently to get past average. They hold strategic planning sessions, seek out channel marketing partnerships to leverage opportunities, bring in consultants to help chart a course for the coming year, but in the end, they fail to do the one single most important thing. Define their brand message.

The difference between companies who get past mediocrity and those that fall into the pot and simmer for twelve months, hoping to achieve a different result, is that some have figured out how to tell their story in an engaging manner.

Take Houlihan's Restaurants for example. On the Houlihan's Web site, you can design your own drink coaster and submit it as an entry in a national coaster competition for their restaurants. That is how you engage your customers.

Many companies fall into the trap of doing the obvious. The obvious is, well, obvious. It's also uninspired and frequently boring. Companies fall back on the traditional Features and Benefits selling proposition. That simply doesn't cut it any longer. Good enough is not good enough.

Twenty years ago companies controlled their brands. Today, the customer controls it. They get to tell your story — in their blog posts, in their Facebook pages, in their instant messages to their friends — the leverage is now in the hands of the many, not the hands of the few.

As a company, you want your customers talking about your brand. You want an ongoing stream of buzz. In fact, done appropriately, you can help propagate it — just as Houlihan's has. But trying to do so without a clearly defined brand message makes the likelihood of finding success nearly impossible. Which means you will find yourself, once again, floating in a sea of mediocrity.